They Captured My Heart Singing and Dancing

Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire sing and dance their way into your heart in the sensational musical comedy Holiday Inn. Nominated for 3 Academy Awards®, this special edition features 13 holiday songs by famed composer Irving Berlin, including White Christmas - one of the biggest-selling recordings in music history!

Crosby plays a song and dance man who leaves showbiz to run an inn that is open only on holidays. Astaire plays his former partner and rival in love. Follow the two talented pals as they find themselves competing for the affections of the same lovely lady (Marjorie Reynolds).

Title: Holiday Inn
Release: August 4, 1942
Genre: Musical Comedy
MPAA Rating: NR
Writer: Irving Berlin, Elmer Rice, Claude Binyon
Director: Mark Sandrich
Music By: Irving Berlin
Produced By: Mark Sandrich
Distributed By: Paramount Pictures
Run Time: 100 minutes

Take two legends and place them in the same film and of course you’re going to have a success but put Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire in a film together, you get something timeless. That something is Holiday Inn. The famous songwriter Irving Berlin came up with the idea of a place open only on all of the major holidays and pitched it to Mark Sandrich and Paramount and the rest as they say is history! This movie was nominated for three Academy Awards, produced one of the most popular Christmas songs ever, and was remade in 1954 as the movie White Christmas (also starring Bing Crosby).

You may be asking yourself why in the world am I watching Christmas movies in the middle of summer but the truth is White Christmas is the only song for Christmas. There’s also The Easter Parade (which became a movie too that Astaire co-starred with Judy Garland) for Easter, one for Washington’s birthday, New Years (with Fred's "drunk dance"), The Fourth of July and many more. Plus, I had no idea what the film was about when I watched it! Just that it had two of the greatest song and dance men that the world has ever known in it and that was enough for me.

Since this movie was essentially just a vehicle for Berlin’s music it could have easily flopped and although I just love the music, especially I’ll Capture Her Heart and Be Careful it’s My Heart, I don’t think anyone else could have pulled this film off with such finesse as Crosby and Astaire do. While some of it’s not perfect, most of it’s just something you want to watch over and over again (and believe me, I have).

Besides Wikipedia and Imdb.com’s usual articles, TCM (that’s Turner Classic Movies) has an article and a re-issue trailer for Holiday Inn.

Trailer:

visit videodetective.com for more info

I'll Capture Her Heart:


Say it With Firecrackers:


White Christmas: